Ever Faithful Ever Sure

Psalm 136 April 7, 2024 Pastor Ricky Alcantar

Thesis God's steadfast love — affectionate, continuous, and active — endures forever across creation, salvation, and daily provision, and we grasp it by rehearsing His faithfulness through thanksgiving.

Series

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Type

Expository

Tone

pastoraldidacticcelebratory

Method

grammatical-historicalredemptive-historicalcanonical

What's in this sermon

The shape of the argument

28 units across exposition, application, illustration, theological claim, and conclusion. The pastor's argument is built from these moving parts.

Pastoral correction · unit #15

"Applies the exodus-cross typology to congregational worship and personal doubt. The church's constant gospel proclamation isn't redundancy — it's necessary re-orientation. When enemies feel strong or guilt looms, rehearse the cross again."

Doctrinal loci· 13 surfaced

Soteriology · 7 Providence / Sovereignty · 5 Theology Proper · 5 Pastoral Theology · 4 Doxology / Worship · 3 Bibliology · 2 Christology · 2 Covenant Theology · 1 Ecclesiology · 1 Hamartiology · 1 Pneumatology · 1 Sanctification · 1 Spiritual Warfare · 1

Bible citations· 16

Illustrations· 1

historical example · unit #3 — Extended story of Jim White exploring New Mexico caves with only a string as a lifeline. The illustration sets up the controlling metaphor: life disorients us like a cave system, and Psalm 136's refrain is the thread we grip to find our way.

Theological claims· 5

Life's disruptions disorient us spiritually, causing us to doubt truths we once held as certain, including God's love and control. unit #4
The psalm's purpose is to make us see God's steadfast love as the unchanging reality that guides us through life's disorientation. unit #8
The exodus foreshadows the cross: God struck His own firstborn, extended His arm in resurrection power, and parted the sea of wrath so we could pass through to safety. unit #13
Everything you have as a Christian — prayer access, the Spirit, sanctification, assurance, heaven — is land Christ conquered and gave you, and we forget we're standing on it. unit #20
We rehearse God's steadfast love repeatedly because our hearts don't naturally believe that the sovereign Creator delights in us. unit #24

Quotations· 3

"the Lord's goodness that is displayed both in his miraculous creations of the earth and Israel, and also in his compassionate caring for both of them shows that the Lord's steadfast love endures forever, thereby giving hope to every generation of God's people" — Bruce Waltke (unit #10)

"The main reason we need to rehearse the love of God again and again is because we don't believe it, at least not naturally. We aren't naturally prone to believe that God, the God who has always existed in eternal, trinitarian fullness, who created the universe out of nothing, who governs the affairs of kings, who controls the path of every speck of dust and particle of water, that, that God delights in his people with gladness and rejoices over them with songs of joy. We just don't naturally believe that. It doesn't naturally make sense that this big, sovereign, infinite God would love us, that he would love the world so much that he would send his only son to die for his people's eternal joy. So we need to repeat it. We need to remind ourselves, to remind each other, to sing it to one another over and over until we just begin to grasp again God's steadfast, eternal, death conquering love." — Nick Rhone (unit #24)

"let us with gladsome mind praise the Lord, for he is kind see his steadfast love endure ever faithful, ever sure let us blaze his name abroad for of gods, he is the God see his steadfast love endure, ever faithful, ever sure he with all commanding might fill the new made world with light see his steadfast love endure, ever faithful, ever sure he with thunder clasping hand smote first born of Egypt land see his steadfast love endure, ever faithful, ever sure he in battle has brought down kings of prowess and renown see his faithful steadfast love endure ever faithful, ever sure to his servant Israel gave their land therein to dwell see his steadfast love endure ever faithful, ever sure even now his victory rings in my life and new hope springs ever faith see his steadfast love endure, ever faithful, ever sure let us therefore hold the thread of all he's done and all he said see his steadfast love endure ever faithful, ever sure the story told and then retold in my life now will unfold see his steadfast love endure ever faithful, ever sure" — John Milton (unit #27)

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0 · Sets up the pastoral problem: post-Easter spiritual letdown

Turn to your Bibles, for more good news from Psalm 136. We're gonna take a one week pause before we jump back into 1 Corinthians. And oh, boy, the next section of Corinthians is gonna be wild. It's all about spiritual gifts, about tongues, it's about prophecy, it's about the Holy Spirit's power. It's about church services that are out of control. It's gonna be a great time over the next few weeks. But today I really felt the Lord put this particular psalm on my heart for a particular reason. So every Easter season, I don't know about you, but I feel like, man, there's some more light, there's some more faith, there's some more kind of spiritual connection I feel to the Lord. As we remember Palm Sunday, we remember Good Friday, remember Easter, and we're just like, yes, man. I just feel. I feel like I'm on a conveyor belt of Christianity. I'm just. I'm just being carried along more and more. And then Monday hits. Bam. And at least for us this week, we got a car repair that we were like, okay, well, not too bad. And then we got that fateful call from the mechanic that goes, oh, are you sitting down? Right? You never want your desk. You never want your mechanic to ask if you're sitting down before he tells you what's going on with your car. And so that's what happened to us this week. And maybe the same thing happened to you. Maybe Easter week was great, but all of a sudden, your spiritual life went from here to here, and you're wondering what to do. And I think that happens every year. So how do we take hold of the good news of Easter year round? That is what Psalm 36 is going to help us do today.

1 · Introduces the psalm's structure as responsive liturgy and leads the congregation in a participatory reading of the opening and closing verses

Psalm 136 is a responsive psalm. It's a psalm that the people of God would have recited or sung together. We're going to just do an excerpt of it before we jump into the text, but I would invite you to stand for the reading of God's word. I would invite you to help recreate the psalm as it was meant to be read. We're going to read. We're just going to read verses one through three together. And then I'm going to skip ahead, and I'm going to just read 23, 24, 25, and 26 at the end. So we're gonna read the opening and closing of the psalm. So we get the theme, and then we'll walk through it together. So, Psalm 136, the underlined portion is yours. Okay, so I'm gonna say the non underlined. You say the underlined. This is what it was meant to be recited as among the people of God. So, Psalm 136, this is God's word. Give thanks to the Lord for he is good. And you say, for his steadfast love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of gods, for his steadfast love endures forever. Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for his steadfast love endures forever. Now, please skip to the end of verse 23. With it is he. We're going to do the brackets of the psalm together. It is he who remembered us in our low estate, for his steadfast love endures forever and rescued us from our foes, for his steadfast love endures forever. He who gives food to all flesh, for his steadfast love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of heaven, for his steadfast love endures forever.

2 · Brief pastoral prayer asking for receptivity to the Word

Lord, I pray that you would bless the preaching of your word today. Lord, give us ears to hear and eyes to see. May we take hold of your word this morning. Amen.

3 · Extended story of Jim White exploring New Mexico caves with only a string as a lifeline

Well. In the early 19 hundreds, a settler living out on the frontier of New Mexico named Jim White saw an unusual natural phenomenon. He saw, he observed that in the evening, what appeared to be wisps of smoke would come out in the distance of the desert, and they would swirl for a time and then dissipate. Finally, he grew courageous enough to investigate, and he realized it wasn't actually smoke. Every evening, it was columns of bats. Now, I don't know about you, but that's where I'm out. I'm out of the story. At that point, I'm like, great. There appears to be a giant opening in the middle of the earth with swarms of bats. I'm out. But not Jim White. He was like, this is interesting. So he began exploring this giant, this giant cave, and he found as deep as he went, the caves would just keep going. And armed only with a lantern and a young, kind of a young man as his helper, he began to explore this series of caves. Now, there was a problem, though, that especially around early 19 hundreds, you easily become disoriented in a cave. Caves are pitch black. They had only lanterns. After a period of time, all the shadows start looking the same. You begin to wonder, have I already been through here? Was it this way or that way? Which fork in the road did I take? You start to get turned around, and there are stories of people getting lost and dying in systems of caves. And so Jim White became. He began to do something ingenious. He began to, at any time that there was an opening of a cave, he would tie off a piece of string and run the string down through wherever he climbed into the next kind of natural opening. And then he would tie off another piece of string and then run that string. So if at any point, if he sat down, took a drink of water, and then realized, wait, did I come from here or over there? All he had to do was find the string, feel around for it on the ground, find the string, and in a sense, pull his way back home, that is what Psalm 136 is meant to do for us.

4 · Applies the cave metaphor to spiritual disorientation

We in life often end up feeling like we are in a cave system. Do we not. We easily become disoriented. We begin to wonder, where is up and what is left and what is right? And how did I get down from here? And am I going the right way? And why is the light so dim? And why can't I seem to find my way out of this? And all of a sudden, things that we thought were sure, like in a cave, you'd think, okay, I'm going this way. And then a few minutes later, you're like, wait, am I still going this way? Am I going north now? Is this. Where am I? We encounter those same things in life, things that feel certain in life. Like, my spouse loves me. We think, okay, yeah, my spouse loves me. But then all of a sudden, it's taken. And we wonder, is that true? Or, my kids are all healthy, thank God. All of a sudden changes. And those things, those disorientations we go through in life begin to disorient us on a deeper spiritual level. We begin to wonder if the same phrases we repeated to ourselves are still. Well, if they're still pointing the right direction. Did I get them wrong? Things like, God loves me. Is that true? God is in control of all this? Is he really? I'm gonna be okay in the end, we begin to wonder, and that is why Psalm 136 is so helpful.

5 · Introduces the psalm's structure: the refrain repeated 26 times

Psalm 136 gives us a particular thread to take hold of that will keep us oriented through the disorienting twists and turns of life. Now, the string is not easily seen, right? If you have a string in a cave, you may not immediately see it. But Jim White knew this. If he ever became disoriented, all he had to do was get out on his hands and knees and feel around until he found the thread. So that's what we are going to do today. We're going to feel around until we can grasp the thread. What is that thread? Well, I had us read the beginning and the end of the psalm. So we grasp the thread clearly, and then we'll follow it through the psalm. What is that thread? Verse one. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. Now, the psalm contains that simple phrase, his steadfast love endures forever, repeated no less than 26 times. Remember, in Hebrew, if something was repeated, it was repeated for emphasis. So when Joseph's brothers threw him into a pit, in Hebrew, it was literally Joseph's brothers threw him into a pit. Pit, meaning, like, it wasn't just like a little hole in the ground or he could just climb out. It was like a pit pit. Right. So what does it mean, then, when a phrase is repeated 26 times? Well, it means that there is one driving truth and purpose that we are meant to grasp.

6 · Defends the psalm's literary sophistication against the charge of laziness

And, in fact, there's all kinds of intricate. This is not a simplistic psalm. This isn't the song the psalmist was running out of lyrics, you know, like they do in pop music, and they're like, I'm not sure what to put here. So they just say, ooh, baby, or, oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. You know, like, you're like, could you. That's the best you've got? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Like, sometimes I'm just wondering, man. Come on, man. Just get back in the studio. We got a line there. That's not what the psalmist is doing. He's not just repeating the phrase over and over because he doesn't have any more material. In fact, this is one of the most intricate psalms in the Book of Psalms. It is more complicated than I can lay out immediately, but it is essentially a series of lines that line up numerically with the name Yahweh. So the skeleton of it is the name Yahweh. And then it's an intricate series of triplets, of triple phrases or triple wording that interlock. And all of it, it's very complicated, but all of it is meant to drive home 1.26 times. The steadfast love of the Lord endures forever.

7 · Deep dive into the Hebrew hesed: affection + continuation + action

Now, that phrase steadfast love in our Bibles is a translation of the Hebrew phrase hesed. Now, you may remember that from our series on the Book of Ruth, that was a theme of Ruth. This word is notoriously difficult to translate because some translate it steadfast love, some translate it unfailing love. One of my favorites. I think it's the Niv or another translation that uses the epically long word loving kindness. All one word, the loving kindness of the Lord, endures forever, and it carries three sort of aspects of meaning with it. The first is, it contains an element of affection. Right? It is affection. The Lord regards us. The Lord cares for us. The Lord loves us. And it is not a conditional affection. It's not. If you do blank, I will love you. It is, I love you because I love you. Right. It's like a toddler. Like, you don't love them if they wash your car. You love them because you love them despite the fact that now you have to wash your car. There's an element of affection, and second, there's an element of continuation in affection. So that's where the translators are using terms like steadfast or unfailing. It is not I feel I love you today, but we'll see about tomorrow. Rather, it is, I love you. I have loved you yesterday, I do love you today, I will love you tomorrow. It's a steady affection, not an affection that's moving up and down. A steady affection. And third, in the Bible, love is tied to action, not primarily feelings or emotions, meaning to love someone meant to act in a way of love toward them. It is an action, a movement. In a sense, the love in the Bible goes out and does things and move things, makes things happen. That's what love means. So look at these three things together. It is affection that is steady, that is tied to action, that is hesed, and then not content for us to grasp that. It doesn't just say the Lord has said loves us. The phrase is, at least in the ESV, his steadfast love endures forever, meaning it essentially says it, and then it reemphasizes it. So in English it would be something like saying, the steadfast love of the Lord is steadfastly steadfast, or the unfailing love of the Lord never fails to never fail. So not only is it repeated 26 times, it's probably doubly repeated within that.

8 · States the sermon's controlling thesis: the psalm summons us to see — really see — God's steadfast love as our lifeline

So why is the psalmist so intent on us grasping this, on us, drilling this into our minds? Because it is the thread that once we take hold of it, will lead us out of whatever cave we are in. So John Milton, the poet wrote Paradise Lost, does a treatment of this psalm, and I'm using a bit of his language when I try to summarize the main point. The main point is a call of this passage. The main point is this. See his steadfast love endure, ever faithful, ever sure. That's what the psalmist is calling us to do. See it? See his steadfast love endure, ever faithful, ever sure.

9 · Signals the sermon's structure: tracing the thread through different sections of the psalm, beginning with God's character

Now we're going to look at the thread in a few different places. First, see the thread from the beginning.

10 · Expounds verses 1-9

We just read verses one, two and three where the psalmist calls us, give thanks to the Lord for he is good. Give thanks to the God of gods. Give thanks to the Lord of lords. And then repeats three times, his steadfast love endures forever. Now, the thread begins with God's nature and character. He is the God of gods. He is the Lord of lords. He reigns supreme. It means that nothing can bend his will. No one can force him to do anything. There is no sense in which God may love us. But then goes, well, I love you, but it's out of my hands. Well, I love you, but I wish I could help, but I can't. Right. He rules. So the one that this steadfast love is rooted in means a whole lot when we ask, what does the steadfast love mean? For me, example, you might get a puppy and that puppy thinks you're the absolute best thing in the world. But the steadfast love of a puppy doesn't mean a whole lot in life, right? When you lose your job, you're not, you know, the puppy can't do anything about it. It just looks at you with those little sad, happy eyes. That is not helpful. In those moments when your marriage breaks up. The steadfast love of the puppy might be there, but it can't do a whole lot about that either. Steadfast love of the puppy is not going to change your eternity. That is why the soulmas roots, our understanding of steadfast love in the Lord of lords, in the king of kings, in the God of gods. And it means this. This is the being that has set his steadfast love upon you. Nothing will make him change his mind. Nothing will move him from this. Nothing will dissuade him from this. If he has set his love on you as the supreme ruler, it will remain. No one will move it. Friend, do you wonder if the steadfast love of God, perhaps he's well intended, but he can't do quite a whole lot about the circumstances of your life. Untrue. The one who is the lord of lords and the king of kings and the God of gods, he is the one who set his love on you. And then we look at that love worked out in creation. Look at verse four. To him alone who does great wonders. For his steadfast love endures forever to him who by understanding made the heavens. For his steadfast love endures forever. To him who spread out the earth above the waters. For his steadfast love endures forever. To him who made the great lights. For his steadfast love endures forever. The sun to rule over the day. For his steadfast love endures forever. The moon and the stars to rule over the night. For his steadfast love. Love endures forever. Now you might think, well, why all this talk about creation? What does all this creation stuff have to do with me and his love enduring for me forever? Bruce Waltke has a great summary here. He says this, the Lord's goodness that is displayed both in his miraculous creations of the earth and Israel, and also in his compassionate caring for both of them shows that the Lord's steadfast love endures forever, thereby giving hope to every generation of God's people. Meaning this, that creation itself and his care of creation should inform what we mean when we recite that the Lord's love is steadfast and endures forever. So in other words, if we are tempted to ask in our lives, is God really powerful? Now, he might love me, but can he really act? Can he really do things? Creation itself answers us, yes. Do you not see solar eclipses and meteor showers? Do you not see canyons and waterfalls? Do you not see the sun blazing in its place, the moon shining? Do you not see these things? That power is the power behind the chesed love of God for you. Like, feel that, Christian? This isn't some wimpy, weak, limping love. This is the love of the creator who spoke and stars exploded into being, and he says he loves you. That is extraordinary. And then, though you may be wondering, well, okay, so he created all these things, but how does God deal with his creation? Is it wanton? Is it flippant? Does he forget about it? Does he leave it half finished? Does he put something in the stove on the kitchen counter and forget about it and walk away and come back and it's all burned? We're like, I guess we're having pizza tonight, kids. Is he that kind of a God related to his creation? Creation itself answers back with, how does God deal with his creation? Did he not finish hanging the stars? Did he not set the laws of physics in place? Did he not set the earth on its axis? Did he not spin out the seasons? If he leaves nothing half finished, will he never leave his love for you half finished either? It's not as if the Lord is going to start loving you. And then halfway through, ah, just. I forgot, I got something else going on. Like, oh, that's right, I was supposed to love that person. No, nothing in creation is half finished. We don't have half a son. Neither will the Lord set his affection on you and waver along the way. Take hold of this thread, Christian. See his steadfast love endure, ever faithful, ever sure.

11 · Pivots from creation to salvation history

Second, see the thread in salvation. So we then turn from Genesis to Exodus in the Bible to the salvation event. The salvation paradigm of the Old Testament centered on the bringing of God's people out of Egypt.

12 · Expounds verses 10-16

So look at verse ten. To him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt for his steadfast love endures forever and brought Israel out from among them for his steadfast love endures forever. With a strong hand and an outstretched arm. For his steadfast love endures forever. To him who divided the Red Sea in two. For his steadfast love endures forever. And made Israel pass through the midst of it. For his steadfast love endures forever. But overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea. The Hebrew word there is actually shook off. He shook off Pharaoh and his host into the Red Sea. Is that as the Lord straining here, he's all the might of Egypt just shaken off the way you would a towel with something on it, to him who led his people through the wilderness. For his steadfast love endures forever. Now, look, this thread of God's steadfast love is clearly seen in his salvation of his people. Now, one of the things you have to understand is this was likely written and recited later on in Israel's history. So this event in Egypt would have been ancient history. For the people of God singing this psalm, it may have been post exile that they're looking back. So it was the distant past. It was the distant past for them. And so you might wonder, well, why would we care about the distant past? Well, I care about my life now. I don't care about something that happened a thousand years ago. What about now? But history, friends, for the Christian is a powerful teacher. This history of God's people then reveals to us the same God who is with us now. The steadfast love of God for his people in salvation is the same God who steadfastly loves us today. So if we can see it clearly there and then we can experience it here and now, that's why he is so intent on helping us see this.

13 · Redemptive-historical move: the exodus is a type fulfilled in Christ

And, friends, this salvation event in the Old Testament was profound. But we as Christians have the benefit of seeing not just the exodus event, but the event that the exodus pointed to. Meaning the exodus was a rehearsal. It was a foreshadowing of what Jesus Christ would do in his death and resurrection. And this should be freshly in our minds right after Easter, should it not? Because as we walk through these verses, you insert a reference then to the cross and resurrection of Jesus, where you where he says to him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt so that he could bring his people out. Man, how much more clearly do we see God's love for us in striking down the firstborn of God, in striking down his very son to bring us out of Egypt right when he, with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, accomplished salvation, man, how much more clearly on the cross and in the resurrection, do we see his strong hand and his outstretched arm when it speaks of God dividing the red sea so that God's people could pass? What that refers to is. Look, they had a sea in front of them, an army behind them. They were in an impossible place, but God made a way. How much more, in light of the cross, do we see our position, where behind us was the judgment of God, before us was the fruit of all of our misdeeds and sin. There was no way out. And yet the Lord comes, and Jesus Christ makes a way for us to go from danger to safety and home through the blood of Jesus. Right? They would have remembered, oh, my great great great grandfather walked through the Red Sea. Friends, every time we take communion, we remember we walked through the sea of God's wrath, made away by the blood of Jesus for us. That steadfast love there and then is the same love God has for us here and now.

14 · Deepens the typology: Pharaoh's chariots parallel Satan, corrupt rulers, and death itself — all enemies Christ defeated on the cross and in the resurrection

Look, this is. This is one of those passages that there are layers upon layers upon layers of meaning. Think of, for example, when it's talking about pharaoh, right? Being shaken off by God. He was, at that time the most powerful, feared person in the ancient world. He had, like, ancient advanced tech with chariots. Like, nobody could stand in front of chariots. Dude, if you were a dude with a pitchfork and another dude has, like, a thousand chariots, you're dead, right? Like, well, we got 100 guys in pitchforks still dead. We got a thousand guys in pitchforks still dead, right? And the Lord shook them off. Look, how much more clearly do we see on the cross? And in the empty tomb, the Lord take on our greatest enemies and vanquish them. Right? Do we see Satan triumph on the cross? No. We see the son of God triumph on the cross. Do we see the corrupt rulers of Jesus? They triumph on the cross? No. The son of God hangs in victory over them. Do we see death itself, our old foe and enemy, dogging us since Genesis three, does death itself prevail? No. Jesus Christ, the resurrection and the life prevails. So we see him in this verse. We see, these verses speak of shaking off our enemies and leaving them behind. Oh, man. How much more clearly do we see that as Christians?

15 · Applies the exodus-cross typology to congregational worship and personal doubt

Now, look, if you are in Christ, man, this should secure you like nothing else. This is one of the reasons at cross of grace. It's in our name, it's in our songs, it's in our messages. Why we never tire of proclaiming the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And you might at some point go like are you guys gonna talk about, like, something else? The answer is no, we're not going to. Because that event wasn't just there and then. That event ripples out into our lives here and now. And it means the God of there and then is the God of here and now. And yet we so often forget it, don't we? We're so often going like, oh, man, my enemies are too strong. Nope. Proclaim the cross and resurrection again until you remember. Nope. There's no enemy stronger than him. Right? Or, I just feel so guilty. I just feel like I can't draw near. Nope. Proclaim the cross and resurrection again until you feel confident to pass through the Red Sea and draw near to the Lord. Right. We need this over and over and over again in our lives.

16 · Concrete instruction: rehearse your testimony in the two-sentence Easter format

And friends on Easter, we talked about the. We had a number of people share their brief two sentence testimonies. There was a time in my life when. Blank. But Jesus saved me and changed me. And now because of Jesus, I am blank. Right? We heard that story over and over throughout our Easter service. Look, we should all be very familiar with our own story in that format. There's a time in my life I was proud, selfish, arrogant, and didn't think I needed God. But God saved me and changed me. And I am more desperate for him than I ever have been before. And I'm happier than I ever have been. Right? That's my story. There's a time in my life, even as a Christian, I felt depressed and hopeless and lost and didn't know if I would ever get out of the cave. But because of Jesus death and life and resurrection, he sustained me and he brought me out. Right? We each have story after story that all go back to this story. This story is our story. The Red Sea, the cross, they are our story.

17 · Evangelistic turn

And look, if you are not in Christ yet, if you're not yet a Christian, here is the reality. You crave a thread to hold onto. In life, you crave something. For you, it might be the love of a boyfriend or a girlfriend or a spouse. Like, this is going to be my constant, but it can snap. You might have a child and think, man, this child is my whole world, but that thread can snap. You might think, this career, I'm giving everything in my life for this career. This will be the constant in my life, and it can snap. Right? This political candidate, I'm putting everything in my life into them. It can snap friends. All of the threads that you try to hold onto, they will all snap, except for this one. And so friend, you are invited to take hold of a far better thread today. And it could be not just our thread, but your thread. You can be part of the people rejoicing in this song today. Believe in Jesus Christ. Take hold of the thread. See his steadfast love endure ever faithful, ever sure.

18 · Signals next section: God's provision through conquest

A third, rather. See the thread in his provision. Now, verses 17 through 21 is a list of kings. At first you're going like, why do we have a list of conquered kings? Although personally, I'm fine, I'd like to see more lists of conquered kings incorporated into worship music, you know?

19 · Expounds verses 17-22

I mean, look at this. Verse 17. To him who struck down great kings, for his steadfast love endures forever. And killed mighty kings, for his steadfast love endures forever. And then we just got some guys names. Sihon, king of the Amorites. Yeah, I hated that guy. For his steadfast love endures forever and ah, king of Bashan. For a steadfast love endures forever. And you're like, yeah, why are we singing this? Look at verse 21. And gave their land as a heritage for a steadfast love endures forever. A Heritage to Israel, his servant. For a steadfast love endures forever. This section is actually about God's provision, right? These people were in the way of God giving his land back to his people. They were kings of great wickedness and evil. And God goes ahead and listen. If you read Joshua, this is the story of Joshua. If you read Joshua, nobody reads Joshua thinking man. It was brilliant strategy that allowed the Israelites to conquer the promised land. No way. There are a lot of battles in Joshua that are like the three Stooges plus the God of the universe against people, and they always win. And there's a few times the Lord lets them go by themselves, and it doesn't go well. And so the Lord is the one that conquers these kings, not the Israelites. But why does he do it? Because he wants to provide for his people. He wants to give this land, this promised land, to his people. And think about it. The people of God would have been standing on the promised land as they sang about what God had given them.

20 · Typological application: Christians stand on the spiritual promised land Christ won

And so too, do us Christians. So too do we stand on the promised land, even in kind of foreshadowed promised land, which we'll receive one day in eternity. But even now, there is an aspect in which we stand on the promised land of what Christ has won for us in our christian lives. Think of it this way. Can you pray to the Lord? If you can, that's only because the blood of Jesus made a way for you to be brought from far to near. Right? Do you have the spirit of God himself in your heart? That's only because Jesus saved you and put his holy spirit in your heart. Do you have the ability to fight patterns of sin that once bound you and, and you were unable to escape from? Well, Christ has broken the back of sin, given you his spirit so you can change. Do you wonder if God really loves you, that Abba, Father spirit is in your heart to help you sense God's very love for you, right? And do you not hold in your hand as a Christian a ticket, a deed to the future promised land of heaven that you purchased, that you have had purchased for you, rather by the blood of Jesus that you did nothing to earn yourself. You do all that you stand on as a Christian has been given to you and won for you by Jesus. And so often we forget it, right? So often we forget, like, oh, I mean, I can be even, you know, in prayer and complaining to the Lord and pray, Lord, this is so hard. This is so difficult, Lord, I just, I need to hear you. And then sometimes it's helpful for me to just back up from my complaining prayer at times. And Lord wants you to pour out your heart to him. But sometimes I back up from my complaining prayer and look down and remember, oh, the land I'm even standing on has been won for me. The fact that I can even pray about this, that right has been given to me by the blood of Jesus. The fact that I hope that he will hear me has been given to me by the blood of Jesus. Right. The land we stand on the provision of God that we see, that's been given to us.

21 · Pivots to the psalm's final section: present-tense provision

And so, friend, take hold of the thread, see his steadfast love endure, ever faithful, ever sure. And last, last section, verses 23, 24, 25, they move us to right now. Now, these other sections would have been history. This would have been present tense. It's very likely that this psalm was written and sung after the exile. So God's people were in exile in Babylon. God brings them back. And as they have returned, they sing this song in verse 23.

22 · Expounds verses 23-25

It is he who remembered us in our lowest state. For his steadfast love endures forever and rescued us from our foes. For his steadfast love endures forever. He who gives food to all flesh, for his steadfast love endures forever. Look, this would have been really personal. It would have been like, man, we were in a low estate as a people. We were captive in Babylon. There was nothing we could do. There was nothing we could offer the king of Babylon to ask him to let us go back to our lands. That would have never happened. There's no way to go from a floundering, almost snuffed out people back to our own land. But verse 23 says it was God who remembered them. It was God because of the promises he had made to Abraham and to David that he fulfilled and brought them back. Verse 24 and rescued us from our foes. Look, just like the king of Egypt, the king of Babylon was the strongest leader at the time, had all the might of the world's armies. No one could oppose him. No one could move him. No one could make him do anything he didn't want, except for the king of kings and the lord of lords. And the Lord sent his people back to their land in verses 25. Maybe this song would have even been sung around harvest time. And he gives food to all flesh, meaning that the food on their table would have been a reminder. The same God who made us, the same God who saved us, the same God who provided us this meal represents. He is the same God right? Now, look. That is powerful. Friends, you see what the psalmist is doing? He repeats this phrase over and over and over and over again until we're like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then at some point we go, oh, oh, now I see the same God who created, the same God who saved. The same God who provides is the same God right here and right now.

23 · Three-part application linking verses 23-25 to this week

Look, do you have any places in your life recently in the last week where God has remembered you? Were you at a low point recently where God remembered you and sent someone to get you out? I was hearing a story of somebody feeling lost and alone and wondering, Lord, where are, are you you? And out of nowhere, another christian friend texted them and just said, hey, God put you on my heart. Here's a verse for you. I'm praying for you. And the person's like, how would he possibly know that it's because the Lord remembered them or another person that was just sharing how they were struggling with a pattern of sin? I just felt like, I don't know. But they asked for help and they asked for the Lord's help and asked for help from those around them. And the next time that temptation came, the Lord, it's like he opened a way straight out. And it's like, amazing that the Lord just seemed to open a way. Yeah, that's what he does. He's the same God of the Red Sea. Have you had any times recently where God has rescued you from something? Or third, where has God sustained you? Where has he given you food, giving you money, given you what you needed? Right? Maybe it's the meal you ate yesterday with your family. Maybe it's the money to pay for a bill. You didn't know where it was going to come from. Maybe it was a job that you needed. Maybe it is nothing less than the very heartbeat keeping your blood pumping through your chest right now, or your lungs breathing in and out as you've been listening to the word of God. All of that, friends, is a reminder from the God of the universe. His steadfast love endures forever. See, his steadfast love endure ever faithful, ever sure.

24 · Nick Rhone quote diagnoses the problem: we don't naturally believe in God's love

Now, look, I want to conclude with one encouragement, with one quote and one encouragement, okay? Nick Rhone summarizes this passage well. When he says this, the main reason we need to rehearse the love of God again and again is because we don't believe it, at least not naturally. We aren't naturally prone to believe that God, the God who has always existed in eternal, trinitarian fullness, who created the universe out of nothing, who governs the affairs of kings, who controls the path of every speck of dust and particle of water, that, that God delights in his people with gladness and rejoices over them with songs of joy. We just don't naturally believe that. It doesn't naturally make sense that this big, sovereign, infinite God would love us, that he would love the world so much that he would send his only son to die for his people's eternal joy. So we need to repeat it. We need to remind ourselves, to remind each other, to sing it to one another over and over until we just begin to grasp again God's steadfast, eternal, death conquering love.

25 · First application: thanksgiving is the means of grasping the thread

And let me just make a couple applications here. One is this, if you're wondering, okay, we see the thread of God's steadfast love, but how do we grip it? How do we get our arms, our hands around it? It's in a surprising way that we grip this verse. One, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. And then verse 26, give thanks to the God of heaven, for his steadfast love endures forever. See, here's the reality. Sometimes when you do not feel the steadfast love of the Lord, the last thing you want to do at that moment is give thanks and go through a list of character attributes about God or history about God, or a list of what God has done in your life recently because you're like, man. Well, I don't feel those things. I don't feel thankful. And yet, so often our thanks, our worship, is actually how we take hold of it. Do you think everybody in Israel felt thankful when they started in verse one? Probably not. But I am confident by the time we got to verse 26, some part of it was genuine, because what did they do? They reminded themselves of who God's character is, what God's character is, who he is. They gave thanks for that. They gave thanks for how he sustained creation. They gave thanks for his salvation. They gave thanks for his provision. They gave thanks for his recent care of them. And by the end, there should be a resounding moment in verse 26 where they say, genuinely, yes, give thanks. Thanks to the God of gods. Look, friend, sometimes the way out of the cave is by grabbing hold of the steadfast love of God and giving thanks. And sometimes all it feels like you could do is put one hand in front of the other. But you can. God, thank you that you are there. God, thank you that you are keeping the breath of my lungs. God, thank you that you sent Jesus to die on the cross for me. God, thank you that you've conquered every one of my enemies that I fear, even death. God, thank you that you've given me the ability to talk to you. God, thank you that you've given me your spirit so I could sense you, even though I don't at times. God, thank you that you have. Even this week reminded me that you love me in these small ways. God, thank you. God, thank you. God, thank you. You hand over hand over hand, pull yourself out of the cave, thanking God for who he is and what he's done. That's what the psalms pattern is.

26 · Second application: when we lose the thread, God doesn't

And then last, last encouragement is this, what about when we lose our grip on the thread? Cause it can feel, using this illustration, like, okay, now, you know I'm one of those preachers. You better not lose the thread, because if you do, you're gone. You're gonna die in a cage. You're like, oh, dang, that was a dark turn. There's a call to take hold of the thread. But, friends, here's a good thing about Psalm 136. The steadfast love of the Lord endures forever. See his steadfast love endure, ever faithful, ever sure. What does that mean? It means that sometimes the thread goes and wraps itself around us on its own. Sometimes it means that Jesus climbs into the cave, back down there with us when we feel we can't. And he ties that, that rope around our legs and drags us out of the thing. Why? Because he's never gonna leave us down there in the cave. That's the point of the song. You see, his steadfast love endure ever faithful, ever sure. It's not as though this song is true until you mess up. No, this song is true despite the failures of God's people here and here and in creation and in Egypt and in the wilderness and in the promised land. And yet the Lord did not lose his grip on them. They may have lost the thread at different moments, but the Lord never lost them. And, friends, that's what I want you to believe today. The Lord has not, will not, will never lose his grip on you, so therefore, take hold of the thread. See his steadfast love endure ever faithful, ever sure would you stand?

27 · Closes by reciting Milton's poetic rendering of Psalm 136, weaving the sermon's themes (creation, exodus, conquest, present victory) into liturgical form

And I'm going to recite this one more time to you, using help from John Milton. This is his poetic version of this. And part of this is, if you're willing to, before we end with singing, I'd invite you to just close your eyes and then say, lord, help me to feel it, help me to believe it. This is Milton's version of this psalm, so we can capture some of the poetry of it. He says this let us with gladsome mind praise the Lord, for he is kind see his steadfast love endure ever faithful, ever sure let us blaze his name abroad for of gods, he is the God see his steadfast love endure, ever faithful, ever sure he with all commanding might fill the new made world with light see his steadfast love endure, ever faithful, ever sure he with thunder clasping hand smote first born of Egypt land see his steadfast love endure, ever faithful, ever sure he in battle has brought down kings of prowess and renown see his faithful steadfast love endure ever faithful, ever sure to his servant Israel gave their land therein to dwell see his steadfast love endure ever faithful, ever sure even now his victory rings in my life and new hope springs ever faith see his steadfast love endure, ever faithful, ever sure let us therefore hold the thread of all he's done and all he said see his steadfast love endure ever faithful, ever sure the story told and then retold in my life now will unfold see his steadfast love endure ever faithful, ever sure amen.

Where this fits

Recent preaching context

The three sermons immediately preceding this one in the preaching schedule.

Feb 25, 2024

Who defines gender and what does it mean?

Christians must not blur or subvert in gender what God has made clear and beautiful, recognizing that our identity as male and female is defined by God through creation, not by cultural construction or personal choice.

1 Corinthians 11:2-16

Mar 10, 2024

What If I Don't Like the People at My Church?

Christians must think about the church not as 'me' or 'them,' but as 'us' — united by the blood of Christ, bearing a corporate identity that supersedes all individual and factional divisions.

1 Corinthians 11:17-34

Mar 24, 2024

Why Let Jesus Be In Charge of Your Life

Jesus is the better shepherd worth following because He offers abundant life, knows and cares for His sheep intimately, laid down His life for them decisively, and stands in stark contrast to false shepherds who abandon their flocks.

John 10:7-18

April 7 · This sermon

Ever Faithful Ever Sure

God's steadfast love — affectionate, continuous, and active — endures forever across creation, salvation, and daily provision, and we grasp it by rehearsing His faithfulness through thanksgiving.

Psalm 136

Take it further

Discuss · apply · pray

Small groups

6 discussion questions

Ricky says the psalm's refrain — 'His steadfast love endures forever' — appears 26 times. Why do you think the psalmist repeats this phrase…

Daily readings

5-day reading plan

This week we rehearse God's steadfast love across creation, salvation, and provision — the three movements of Psalm 136 — so that our hearts learn to believe what our minds know: that the sovereign God delights in us.

Prayer

His Steadfast Love Endures Forever

Father, we gather before You this week to rehearse what we confess but often forget: that Your steadfast love endures forever. You are the G…

Family table

What Has God Done For You This Week?

This sermon is about remembering God's faithfulness by rehearsing it out loud — the same way Psalm 136 repeats 'His steadfast love endures f…

Couples

Rehearsing His Faithfulness Together

Where in your life this week did you see God's steadfast love at work—in a provision, a protection, a moment of mercy—and what made it hard…

Memorize

Psalm 136:1

This verse is the opening declaration and theological heartbeat of the entire psalm—the claim that God's hesed is unchanging and eternal. Ricky emphasizes repeatedly that we grasp God's steadfast love through rehearsal and thanksgiving, and this verse is the anchor statement that makes thanksgiving possible: we give thanks because His love endures forever, not because we feel it in the moment.

Daily readings · Monday–Friday

5-day reading plan

Monday Genesis 1-2

Read Genesis 1 and notice the repeated phrase: 'And God saw that it was good.' The psalmist begins Psalm 136 not with salvation or providence, but with God's creative delight — 'He made the heavens, He spread out the earth.' Before you were saved, before you were sustained, God's love was active in the world He crafted. That same love that spoke stars into being hasn't dimmed. It's the foundation everything else rests on.

Tuesday Exodus 12-14

The plagues, the Passover lamb, the parted Red Sea — Psalm 136 rehearses these not as historical facts alone, but as a map of redemption. Every element of the exodus points forward to Christ: the firstborn plague (God would give His own Son), the lamb's blood (Christ's death covers us), the sea parted (the wrath of God divided so we could walk through safely to resurrection). When the psalmist repeats 'His steadfast love endures forever' through the exodus account, he's teaching us to see Jesus in Israel's salvation.

Wednesday Joshua

Joshua inherits the land Israel wandered forty years to claim. In the same way, you inherit — you don't earn — every spiritual gift because Christ conquered it for you. Psalm 136 moves from creation to exodus to the occupation of the land (verses 17-22) to show us a completed arc: God makes, God rescues, God settles His people in provision. You live in that settlement now. The land is yours. But like Israel, we forget what we possess and live in fear instead of gratitude.

Thursday Genesis 37

Joseph was favored by his father, given a coat of many colors, shown God's promises in dreams — and then his brothers sold him into slavery. Everything familiar was torn away. But Joseph's story, like yours, doesn't end in the pit. God's steadfast love works through the disorientation, the betrayal, the exile. When your life feels fractured and you can't see God's goodness, remember: the psalmist wrote Psalm 136 *because* believers go through seasons where they doubt the very things they once were sure of. The psalm is medicine for disorientation.

Friday Genesis 3

Adam and Eve hid from God after the fall — the first human instinct was to assume God couldn't love them anymore. We carry that doubt still. Our hearts whisper that God's favor is conditional, that His love is contingent on our performance. This is why the psalmist says 'His steadfast love endures forever' twenty-six times. Repetition isn't poetic excess — it's the gospel working against the lie we inherited in Genesis 3. Say it this week when you doubt: God's love endures. Not because I earned it. Because He is faithful.

Draft · pending review

Small-group discussion

6 questions for your group this week

Ricky says the psalm's refrain — 'His steadfast love endures forever' — appears 26 times. Why do you think the psalmist repeats this phrase so many times instead of saying it once and moving on?

Psalm 136:1-3

→ When you look at your own life this past month, where have you found yourself needing to remember something true about God repeatedly?
The sermon traces God's steadfast love across three movements: creation, salvation (exodus and cross), and present provision. Which of these three is easiest for you to see and believe right now, and which feels most distant?

Psalm 136:4-9, 10-16, 23-26
Ricky names a fallen condition: 'Life's disruptions disorient us spiritually, causing us to doubt truths we once held as certain, including God's love and control.' What disruption — loss, failure, betrayal, unanswered prayer — has most shaken your confidence in God's steadfast love?

→ How does the psalm's answer to that disruption differ from how the world tells you to process it?
The exodus foreshadows the cross: God struck His own firstborn in Egypt, and later struck His own Son for us. How does understanding the cross as 'the ultimate exodus' reshape what you think God's steadfast love actually cost Him?

Exodus 12-14
Ricky says, 'Everything you have as a Christian — prayer access, the Spirit, sanctification, assurance, heaven — is land Christ conquered and gave you, and we forget we're standing on it.' What spiritual territory do you most often forget you already possess?

Joshua

→ What would shift in your prayers and choices this week if you truly believed you were already standing on that land?
The sermon invites us to rehearse our personal testimony — the way God's saving love in Scripture has become our saving love in life. What is one specific way God has shown His steadfast love to you that you haven't told anyone in this group yet?

Psalm 136:23-25

Draft · pending review

Pray together this week

His Steadfast Love Endures Forever

Father, we gather before You this week to rehearse what we confess but often forget: that Your steadfast love endures forever. You are the God who spoke the stars into being, who parted the Red Sea, who struck Your own firstborn so that we might pass through the sea of Your wrath and into freedom. We adore You for a love so affectionate, so continuous, so active in our lives that it cannot fail.

Yet we confess that life's disruptions disorient us. When circumstances shake us, when guilt clouds our hearts, when enemies seem strong and our faith grows thin, we doubt truths we once held as certain — that You love us, that You control all things, that You have secured our salvation. We forget that we are standing on land Christ conquered and gave to us. Our hearts do not naturally believe that the sovereign Creator delights in us, and we need Your Spirit to reorient us again and again.

But here is the good news: the same God who rescued Israel from Egypt, who extended His arm in resurrection power, rescues us still. Every mercy we receive this week — every answered prayer, every provision, every whisper of grace — is the echo of the cross and resurrection. You have given us the Spirit, access to Your throne, the certainty of heaven. These are not things we must earn; they are things Christ has already conquered for us.

Father, teach us to rehearse Your faithfulness this week. When we pray, help us remember that we are praying to a God who parts seas. When we face our enemies, help us recall that You have already defeated the greatest enemy. When we sit with our own story — our rescuing, our sustaining, our daily provision — help us see the fingerprints of the exodus and the cross on our lives. Grant us the grace to give thanks not because we feel it, but because it is true: Your steadfast love endures forever, and Your grip on us never fails. To You, O God, be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Draft · pending review

Sunday-evening family table

What Has God Done For You This Week?

For the parent

This sermon is about remembering God's faithfulness by rehearsing it out loud — the same way Psalm 136 repeats 'His steadfast love endures forever' 26 times. Invite your family to notice one specific thing God did for you this past week, no matter how small, and say it together as a family. The goal is to practice the psalm's habit: naming God's goodness so your hearts actually *feel* what you know is true.

Around the table, let's each name one thing God did for us this past week — something He provided, something He protected us from, or something He gave us that we needed. It can be big or small. After each person shares, everyone says together: 'His steadfast love endures forever.' We're going to do what the psalmist does — say it out loud until our hearts catch up to the truth.

Works for ages 6+ — younger kids can name simple things (a meal, a friend, getting to play); older kids and adults go deeper into God's provision and rescue.

Draft · pending review

Couples · three questions over coffee

Rehearsing His Faithfulness Together

Where in your life this week did you see God's steadfast love at work—in a provision, a protection, a moment of mercy—and what made it hard or easy to recognize?
When life disorientation hits us as a couple, which of us tends to forget God's faithfulness first, and how can we remind each other that the same God who parted the Red Sea is still holding us now?
What is one specific way God has rescued or sustained *us together* that we need to rehearse and give thanks for this week—and will you pray that truth over me?

Draft · pending review

Memory verse this week

Psalm 136:1

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.

Why this verse: This verse is the opening declaration and theological heartbeat of the entire psalm—the claim that God's hesed is unchanging and eternal. Ricky emphasizes repeatedly that we grasp God's steadfast love through rehearsal and thanksgiving, and this verse is the anchor statement that makes thanksgiving possible: we give thanks because His love endures forever, not because we feel it in the moment.

Draft · pending review

Where this was preached

About the church

Cross of Grace Church

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# Cross of Grace Church

A church preaching expository sermons through the books of the Bible.

## Sermons
- [Who defines gender and what does it mean? (1 Corinthians 11:2-16, 2024-02-25)](/CoGElPaso/sermons/2024/02/who-defines-gender-and-what-does-it-mean)
- [What If I Don't Like the People at My Church? (1 Corinthians 11:17-34, 2024-03-10)](/CoGElPaso/sermons/2024/03/what-if-i-don-t-like-the-people-at-my-church)
- [Why Let Jesus Be In Charge of Your Life (John 10:7-18, 2024-03-24)](/CoGElPaso/sermons/2024/03/why-let-jesus-be-in-charge-of-your-life)
- [Ever Faithful Ever Sure (Psalm 136, 2024-04-07)](/CoGElPaso/sermons/2024/04/ever-faithful-ever-sure)

## About
- [About the church](/about)
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